Meet the Miami Teen Empowering Hearing-Impaired Children

Posted on August 14th, 2017

Oliver Stern for The Forward

I was born deaf, but after receiving cochlear implants and undergoing 20 surgeries, I was able to recover my hearing. As I grew up, I realized other children with disabilities were not as fortunate as I am. In response, I launched Our Abilities, which has educated over 900 students at North Beach Elementary about issues concerning disability advocacy.

Living with a disability is hard. Children especially face a series of challenges every day that make living a normal life a near impossibility. Everything ranging from lacking the resources to adequately address their disability to not being socially accepted by their peers, forever makes disabled children feel inadequate, uncomfortable with themselves, and powerless to pursue their dreams.

What Becomes of Troubled Ultra-Orthodox Kids?

Posted on August 7th, 2017

By Sara Toth Stub for Tablet Magazine

In Israel, a bevy of new programs are helping at-risk youth who’ve long been overlooked

Inside a stone house in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Romema neighborhood, eight teenage girls were taking a break from their studies to eat lunch. They wore long skirts, typical of the religious homes they come from, with colorful plaid flannel shirts less typical—in fact, not allowed—in most of the schools these girls used to attend. But the shirts are just fine at Neot Tamar, a new school aimed at youth-at-risk in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox sector.

“Before, I used to not want to go to school,” said one girl, 15, who started here a few days earlier, after dropping out of her ultra-Orthodox school. “But here I think I can really finish my studies. They are warm and caring here, and it’s very chill and relaxed.”

Goodbye & Good Luck

Posted on July 31st, 2017

by: Fresh Ink for Teens Writers

As the summer months slip through our fingertips, recent high school graduates are busy preparing for the next stage of their lives. Whether headed to college or taking a gap year, moving on from the past four years can cause both uncertainty and excitement. In celebration of this new journey, Fresh Ink for Teens collected excerpts of commencement speeches and words of inspiration, reflection and gratitude from recent graduates.

Mazel Tov to all our graduates. Keep writing!

Josef Kusayev is a graduate of Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. Next year, he will be attending The Lander College for Men’s Medical Honors Pathway to the New York Medical College:

Would A Trip To Germany Be Off Sides?

Posted on July 24th, 2017

by: Benjamin Marks for Fresh Ink for Teens

The unusual circumstances that brought me and my dad to a Berlin soccer stadium.

Traveling from New York to Berlin for a three-day visit was certainly an out-of-the-ordinary weekend for me. But, then again, it was unusual circumstances that brought my dad and me across the ocean to celebrate the 115th anniversary of Tennis Borussia Berlin (“TeBe” as it is called by fans), the storied sports club and football team that my great-great-grandfather founded in 1902.

About three years ago, my dad came across several stories about Alfred Lesser, my great-great-grandfather, all of which were posted on the TeBe website. Prior to his Internet search, the only thing my dad knew about Alfred was that he was a successful businessman in Berlin, before Hitler came to power.

Millennial ‘Gatherings’ Bridge Cultural Gaps

Posted on July 17th, 2017

BY AMY SARA CLARK for The Jewish Week

Shabbat pilot program’s DIY vibe speaks to generation’s instincts.

When Ronit Levin Delgado signed up to host a Shabbat dinner that would bring together a cross-cultural group of millennials, she planned to keep it small. Living in a one-bedroom Prospect Lefferts Gardens apartment that realtors would call “cozy,” she figured she could accommodate at most 10 people.

But, being a typical Israeli, when people began asking if they could bring a friend — or two — she couldn’t say no. When the guest list hit 15, the multimedia artist got creative, giving the dinner a picnic theme, and painting several large forest-scapes to set the scene.